White Manna, situated along the lovely and lush banks of the Hackensack River, was well worth the Zip car hourly fee. Louis Bridges originally bought five White Manna diners (although there was a sign mix up on one, resulting in a “White Mana”) and only two still operate, White Manna (Hackensack) and White Mana (Jersey City). White Manna (Hackensack) is largely considered the “better” of the two.
We slide into a parking space, smooth and collected. After the first stretch of the badass road trip, I foolishly believe that I am cooler than I am, which I’d like to think happens to all New Yorkers when they leave the city for Hackensack. I swing my car door shut, swagger into White Manna, and am instantly disoriented. White Manna has its own unique way of taking food orders, perfected through the decades. The counter forms a crescent around the grill like the burger cook is dealing cards and everyone on the stools is waiting for their hand. Occasionally, the burger cook calls out for orders—there is no line, just people in a jumble around the barstools. Sometimes the burger cook would just look up, and only the White Manna veterans would know that they could then shout out their order. Customers would order their fries and milkshake through whoever happened to be nearest to their stool. The loud techno playing gave the whole ordering system a speedy, fast-forward beat.
A word of warning: Don’t crack under the ordering system. [A sample of inner-monologue: Who is taking the orders? She just did a look up--is that what they do here, just the look up? How the hell did that guy know she was going to do the look up? Six cheeseburgers, that’s going to take forever. Wait, she’s going to...—did she just do a fake out look up? I just blurted out my order, but I think that was a fake out. Or did she get it? Ahhhhh.] Everyone fell into the spontaneous ordering rhythm, and I was ordering in the way that Elaine from Seinfeld dances. Is this what leaving New York will do? When you aren’t surrounded by other neurotics, do you become more neurotic by lack of comparison or just more self-aware of how neurotic you’ve always been?
White Manna serves slider style burgers unless you order a double, which is just two meatballs pressed onto the grill as one, as opposed to two stacked patties. Martin’s potato buns grace the patties. Quick breakdown of grilling process: flatten meatball on grill, sprinkle on long, loose onions, caramelize, and then place buns on top of grilling meat. Check out Roger’s video of the wrapping process—especially when the second set of hands come into play:
The cheeseburgers are $1.80—that is less than an MTA fare!
White Manna also serves Hi-C.
Anna rates:
Bex:
This was a perfect day: 77 degrees, road trip, sunroof, BCNY friends, delicious little burgers.... I mean seriously. So I'll focus on the burgers- little pillows of goodness is what they are. This is a soft burger, with everything including the Martin's potato buns cooked on the flat top grill. Onions, meat, cheese, bun- they meld together during the process. Throw some ketchup and pickles on just as they come off the grill and you've got hot yummyness heading your way. They are small, about the size of a slider, so of course you can order more than one and not feel guilty about it. I want one right now.
Bex rates:
Roger:
White Manna is like the burgers it serves: tiny, classic and very American. I loved that all kinds of people showed up while we there. Families, college kids about to go on a road trip, trucker types who call in their orders of 10 burgers and tourists (BCNY) from the city. One thing though with all those people packed into such a small place, I didn't find it all that relaxing. The burgers are damn good I just wish it was in NY.
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